the “status” theory that academics are mainly trying to be credentialed as impressive often gives quite different predictions than the theory that academics are mainly trying to be useful to the wider world.

Pity Sallie Mae, it is so misunderstood. The student loan giant says it has spent millions of dollars on high-priced lobbyists and showered lawmakers with hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions over the last year not to defeat President Obama’s proposal to overhaul the federal student loan system but to enhance it.